Serenity

“Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.” Lao Tzu

“Take your body and mind as the laboratory, engage in some thorough going research on your mental functioning, and examine the possibility of making some positive changes within yourself.” Dali Lama

While the new printer is handy being attached as it is to this machine, I have to say it is a real ink hog. No wonder the cartridges are cheaper then on the other machine they only hold a few drops. One project and I already had to change black ink cartridge. Oh well I guess it beats trying to save things to disc and then printing on the other machine. My major printing will be done on the old printer, which may be slower, but the quality is professional.

I got my holidays for next year courtesy of a great site by Brownielocks and the 3 bears You have to check it out as she has some absolutely hysterical but true holidays. I discovered her site about three years ago and she is wonderful. If you need a laugh or just a reason to celebrate she probably has something for you.

I returned to work today to a stack of adjustments that they didn’t know how to do. It was a long day and I certainly didn’t feel like being there as I was extremely shaky. Only two people asked how I felt. Some of the others were just glad I was back because they had to work and take up the slack while I was gone. Oh well it supports my art so I can put up with it. I will be glad when mother retires from there however. She is real sick with an infection given to her by a coworker. She is even talking of staying home tomorrow if she doesn’t feel better.

As the quotation above suggests I have done my work for today and now I am stepping back and will get started on the calendars. Being creative is a great way to get past frustrations.
After scraping ice off my windshield this morning I long for this picture. It is called Hawaiian Summer Morning.

Happiness

“One drop of the sea cannot claim to come from one river, and another drop of the sea from another river; the sea is a single consistent whole. In the same way all beings are one; there is no being that does not come from the soul, and is not part of the soul.” The Upanishads

“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment.” Dalai Lama

Things are progressing. I still feel awful weak and shaky but I feel better then I did. The heavy doses of Advil appear to be helping as has taking two different antibiotics for the infection. I may finally be getting the upper hand on this. Regardless I go back to work tomorrow. My brother says that they really miss me. I think maybe the troublemakers regret going in and whining to my boss as she really wanted me to take the time off to get well and they had to actually do some work and pick up the slack. Be careful what you wish for because it can come back at you in unexpected ways.

I think it is very true in life that what you wish for may not always be what you expected. Sometimes you get it into your head that you want something and if you only get that thing everything will be different. You find however that when you get this thing, whether it be a job or relationship or something material, and your life continues to be the way it was before you got it. Often times I believe that our expectations in life are beyond what life can offer. We expect outside things to change our life for the better when the real secret to happiness comes from within ourselves. We want to be happy but we really need to think hard about what true happiness is and what we really need in life to make us happy. I find that if what I want is selfish then it doesn’t really make me happy when I get it. If what I want contributes to the happiness of others then I find my own happiness increases and I am content.

The picture is called Autumn Equinox. Enjoy autumn while you can because winter is coming fast and coming early this year.

Woo-Hoo!

“If my heart can become pure and simple like that of a child, I think there probably can be no greater happiness than this.” Kitaro Nishida

“Obviously, it is not enough for us simply to think about how nice compassion is! We need to make a concerted effort to develop it; we must use all the events of our daily lives to transform our thoughts and behavior.” Dalai Lama

Finally the web site is up and running! I checked out all the links and as far as I can tell they are all working. It was certainly a long hard haul to get it done but I am very pleased with it. Now comes the job of promoting it so that people know it is there. Check it out at: Art by Michele Wilson

I also just finished cleaning the upstairs. My brother has promised for months to clean our bathroom and hasn’t gotten around to it. We have a plumber coming tomorrow and I wasn’t going to let anyone seeing that filthy bathroom so I followed the old adage of "if you want something done do it yourself." The computer room and my bedroom also got cleaned while I was at it since we have someone coming to take out the air conditioners.

According to the doctor yesterday I have severe arthritis in the jaw that is affecting the ears as well as a virus infection. He ordered anti-inflammatory for the ear and I’ve been downing the Advil capsules. It does seem to have had an effect, as it isn’t quite as painful as it was. I am off today and tomorrow and will go back to work on Thursday. My mother’s last day of work is this Sunday and I will be very glad to have her retire. That is what is new in my life.

In the world I have been reading about those neo-nazis who wanted to assassinate Obama and kill so many black people. I wonder if it will dawn on the McCain/Palin campaign that their negative ads and speeches, when taken to the extreme, lead to this kind of hatred. This is the face of bigotry. This is what inflammatory ads and speeches lead to. It isn’t too late to stop the hatred and start focusing on the issues instead. Somehow I doubt they will do that. That is a really sad thing.

Monday, Monday

“The key to an easy relationship with other people is not to impose your ego, nor crush the ego of others.” Swami Prajnanpad

“Benefit first goes to the practitioner of kindness.” Dalai Lama

After many, many hours of work the website is starting to come up and together. I still have a few links not working the way they should but I am finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. With a little luck the Art by Michele Wilson should be finished by the end of the week.

I am home from work again today and will be seeing the specialist at 2 o’clock today. I am hoping he can find out what is wrong and fix it! I am tired of being in constant pain. I am finding myself getting very depressed because of all the pain and what happened at work on Thursday. Even though my boss told me she is not firing me and she wants me well and back to doing the superb job I was doing before I became ill I am still finding myself worried. I am hoping that this doctor is as good as people say he is and he will find a cure.

I am enjoying the high speed Internet. I am still trying to get the wireless up and working on the other computer. In the meantime I am going to have to break down and purchase a printer for this computer. I need to be able to print things off while I am struggling to get the other computer to recognize the wireless.

The picture is called Lady in Red.

High Speed

"Every smile makes you a day younger; every sigh a day older." Chinese proverb

"What I believe, according to my own experience, is that a calm, peaceful mind is a very important element for sustaining the body in a balanced way." Dalai Lama

It was a real rough day yesterday. The final upshot from a meeting with my boss is that I need to stay home and get well because the pain is such a distraction that I am making a lot of posting errors. She claims that my fellow employees are worried about me. I know she is and that she cares. The jury is out on the others. I have an appointment with a specialist on Monday and he is going to have to do something. I cannot go on the way I have. Depending on what he says I may be out of work for a while in order to recuperate.

They have us hooked up to the cable Internet now so it should be a lot faster to do things. I can't get my workhorse computer to recognize the wireless yet but I will have to work on it and I'm sure it will be hooked up eventually. In the meantime I can access the Internet through my other computer. I hope to get the website completely converted over tonight and try and get the uploaded. That has been my major focus the last few days since AOL is taking the site down on the 31st.

Wow that upload of the picture was like lightening. I'm going to like not being on dial up.

Can You Hear Me Now?

The supreme consideration is man.” Mahatma Gandhi

“When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.” Dalai Lama

Remember that irritating cell phone commercial where the guy keeps asking “can you hear me now?”
I had to stop and listen to my lungs this morning a pour some inhalant down them so I could breath. Not the best way to start a week. If you have asthma you learn to listen.

When I worked at The Tattered Cover book store in Denver we would have celebrity autographs. The most massive turnout we ever had was for Colin Powell. That line looped up three flights of stairs and down and out into the street. I briefly got a chance to meet him since I was helping with crowd control. He is a real gentleman in every sense of the word. He is polite and gracious and obviously intelligent. He was a pleasure to work with.

Yesterday Colin Powell endorsed my candidate Barak Obama and he touched on many of the things that I have touched on in this journal. He opposes the mud slinging campaign being run by McCain/Palin. He knows the Bill Ayers rantings have no relevance what so ever to this campaign. He knows Obama is a Christian and he knows that Muslims need to feel free to follow their religious beliefs. He knows Sarah Palin is totally unfit to be Vice President let alone President. He questions McCain’s rashness in picking Sarah Palin as a running mate. He questions McCain’s bizarre closing down of his campaign to “solve the economic crisis”. He questions whether or not McCain even has a viable solution to the economic crisis.

The most important aspect of Colin Powell’s endorsement is his endorsement of Obama the man and his ability to lead. Our position in the world today is one of derision and scorn. Never has the phrase Ugly American been more apropos. Colin Powell knows how important it will be to have as President a genuinely good man and one willing to talk with anybody to achieve peace.

We Have Geek

“The secret to contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have, and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach.” Lin Yutang

“We must distinguish between belief and respect. Belief refers to total faith, which you must have in your own religion. At the same time you should have respect for all other religions.” Dalai Lama

We are in major geek mode today!

The Doctor Who scarf is finished and winging its way to North Carolina. The final statistics are 12 feet long, 1032 rows of 65 stitches wide, 53 different color blocks, and seven colors (purple, tan, brown, yellow, red, gray, and green). Number of hours put into this; I have no idea. Lots. Saw the complete First, Second, and Third Seasons of Doctor Who and half of Season One of Torchwood. Woo-Hoo!!!!!!!!

The “coming soon” placer page is up and running on my new web site. The next few days will see me converting everything over from AOL extensions so I can upload it to my own domain. Come visit me at: http://artbymichelewilson.com

We have geek. ;-)

Health

“Only the supremely wise and the abysmally ignorant do not change.” Confucius

“The modern economy has no national boundaries. When we talk about ecology or the environment, when we are concerned about the ozone layer – one individual, one society, one country cannot solve these problems. We must work together. Humanity needs more genuine cooperation. The foundation or the development of good relations with one another is altruism, compassion, and forgiveness.” Dalai Lama

One thing that is always foremost on my mind is health care. I work in the Business Office at a hospital and I know first hand the problems people are facing with health care and trying to pay for it. When you have dealt with tears from someone with no health coverage and no way of getting it and a bureaucracy and insurance companies that just plain don’t care; it becomes personal.

My own health is not the best. I have COPD in the form or chronic bronchitis and asthma. I am not and never have been a smoker so this isn’t something I brought upon myself. If I didn’t have health insurance through my job I would not be able to get it.

I deal with posting of insurance payments now and the reasons I am seeing to deny payments by insurance companies are staggering. The most common is “preexisting” which means the person who needs the help the most can’t get covered. I have seen labor being non covered as “it wasn’t an emergency.” I have seen the insurance company cover an operation but not anesthesiologist fees. One of our insurance companies now refuses to coverage Emergency Room visits. Medicare payments are so messed up that my mother’s doctor hasn’t received any Medicare payments in over a year. I live in the Midwest and in this little town the employment is factory based. All of the factories are letting people go because of the economy and that means health insurance is dropped.

There is a crisis in the health field and it is a heart breaking one. Lives are being affected and it feels like no one cares. We have a woman in our office whose job it is to try and fight and get help for people. She is over worked and tired but she fight on.

Something has to be done to help the people who can’t afford the premiums. People who have preexisting conditions and need medicine. I’ve checked and no way can I get health insurance on my own. $5,000.00? The insurance companies laugh at that. No way. We need to find a way to get health insurance for everyone. If people can not stay healthy they can not work and they can not contribute to the economy. It is as simple as that.

The picture is called Guardian of Health and is from my Guardian series. I am hoping to get the new website up and running this weekend.

On Sunday We Have Beefcake

“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” Ancient Native American Proverb

The picture is a gift for the fans of this Journal who like John Barrowman as much as I do. Enjoy. ;-)

I am waiting for my hosting services update in the next couple of days and then I will be moving my website over to its new home. I bought the domain site www.artbymichelewilson.com and we are now adding the feature which will allow me to put my website there. It will have a place holder of my own in a day or so (currently godaddy is doing that for me). I am doing a rework of the site to make the art the main page and then the rest of the webs with the recipes, poetry, cats, and writings will link to that. My plan is to have it all up and operational by the end of next week.

Today however episodes of either the Captain Jack stories in Doctor Who or Torchwood will be playing as I finish the scarf. The hands go on automatic while knitting so the eyes can watch eye candy.

Customer Service?

“In divine friendship there is ever increasing respect; each one thinks only the highest welfare of the other.” Paramahansa Yogananda

“When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways: either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find inner strength.” Dalai Lama

My big brother, “Who were you reaming out Sis?”

“Sprint.” If for no other reason then Customer Service hates me because I will ream them out if they mess up on my Mom’s accounts like they did here. She had spent three days with incompetents before they finally admitted they had put her payment request in wrong, she wasn’t past due, etc. I pull up the account on line to see it still is a mess. Upshot, in writing, they are crediting her account for two months of “Customer Service” and please, please, please call your daughter off.

Any more Customer Service is a contradiction in terms. Or as Shakespeare put it, “A tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” And yes I am well aware of the fact that is Macbeth and he was talking about something else, after all I have a degree in theater. However the quote is still appropriate because companies these days talk about service, outsource to India (like I really believe the AOL tech with the heavy accent is called Fiona) and they read back to you on scripts. However if you make enough noise they will do something, if for no other reason then to get you off the line. You shouldn’t have to ream them out to get service. Companies are nothing without their customers. They will cease to exist. In these hard economic times you have to take care of your customer’s needs because we can’t afford to give good money to shoddy products.

So one more crisis solved. It seems for the last nine years since we lost my Dad that my role has been to fix things that he use to fix. My older brother can’t get Army back pay? I fix. My younger brother can’t get his Social Security Disability? I fix. He needs to get diabetic supplies with little money? I fix. My older brother needs a job where he has benefits? I fix. J.C. Penny, Sprint, shoddy contractors? I fix. I don’t mind doing it but some days like today I wish I could get someone to fix for me. This headache, someone make it go away.

The picture is called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Still Playing Around With This Thing

“We must learn that truth may be expressed in a thousand ways, each one yet be true.” Swami Vivekananda

“When you die you go alone, and the only light to accompany you derives from the spiritual practice or positive acts you have done.” Dalai Lama

Will the clown who put 15 days with 100 hours each into this week please leave. What a rotten week at work. I really need to find another job. I am so sick of the pettiness at that place.

One of my pet peeves is hatred and people who incite others to act in hateful manners. There has been a lot of attention paid recently to the McCain/Palin attempts to incite their followers by making hate comments about Barak Obama palling around with terrorists. I mean the nerve of the guy for being 8 years old when Ayers was a Weatherman and the kid probably wanted to go out and play rather then trying to stop him. Eight year olds are so irresponsible aren’t they? Obama served on a school board with Ayers. He put the welfare of children first. He didn’t pick the board he was a member of and the chance to do something to help underprivileged children was more important then making a grandstand gesture. Obama has denounced the violence and terrorism that Ayers espoused in those days. He has denounced the racism and hate mongering of his former pastor Jeremiah Wright. Palin said that Obama didn’t walk out of the sermons. The fact that he wasn’t there when those sermons were made does make it a little difficult to walkout on them.

What are McCain and Palin afraid of? Maybe the fact that Clinton left office with a surplus and us not engaged in wars and Bush has destroyed that surplus, gotten us involved in wars that can not be won, and the economy is tanking big time. They can’t defend the Republican record so they are resorting to hate mongering because they have no plan to help us at all. Health care crisis? Their solution is to tax our health insurance and give the money to the insurance companies. When you have no plan and can’t defend eight years of ruining our economy and jeopardizing our safety and the world’s opinion of us then I guess hate mongering is all you have left. Truly pathetic.

I’ve fiddled a bit with the layout of this blog and will probably do more later. Now I’m going to grab some supper and settle down with those knitting needles and watch Stargate Atlantis. Nothing like science fiction to get my sense of balance back and destress from a stressful week.

The Dalai Lama is recovering from surgery and I will definitely be keeping that good man in my prayers.

The picture is called Sunset Seas.

Winding Down the Week

“When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Human affection is the foundation of proper development.” Dalai Lama

I need to get back to writing this blog on a more frequent basis. The major problem has been a persistent infection in the inner ears that ended with me collapsing at work and in the Emergency Room last week. Two months of constant pain is getting me down. But be that as it may, I still want to get more done and said here.

Readers may notice that I usually preface the blog with quotes from Eastern philosophy. Even though I was raised as Catholic I still find myself drawn to the East. I go to church mainly to keep my mother company. She is a very devote Catholic. My own faith in God is strong but I happen to be of the view that all religions are valid and we all see the same God from different angles. I have a real problem when religions insist that they are the only true ways of seeing God.

One of the people I really admire is my niece’s new husband. He is a Presbyterian minister and married my niece and adopted her three children as his own. He has a great sense of humor and does incredible sermons. He is also a Doctor Who fan which goes a long way with brownies points in this geek's life.

I try to be as open minded as I can. I have many friends that cross about every line you can think of: straight, gay, bi, Christian, Jewish, Atheist, Buddhist, artists, can’t draw a straight line with a ruler, you name it and I probably know someone who embraces it.

As my little brother has been known to remark I am a child of the sixties and am still a left wing hippie according to him. And yes I am a huge Barak Obama supporter. I guess my little brother stills love me even though he is just as huge of a McCain supporter. After all he did send me "The Audacity of Hope". Of course it was addressed to "you left wing hippie you." I’m also a big kid who never plans to grown up. I’m a huge science fiction fan and will always be one. And as much as I love it Heroes is giving me a huge headache trying to figure out this season. Okay if we promise not to whine that it was boring last season can we tie a few plot twists together and make a little sense this year guys?

I like my heroes in the science fiction world and with only 32 more rows to go on the scarf I will be putting in both Doctor Who and Torchwood this weekend to finish up. The Doctor and Captain Jack, yeah if you are going to have heroes make them cute. ;-)

The picture is called The Stars Go On Forever.

One Down

"A great tailor cuts little." Tao Te Ching

"Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other." Dalai Lama

Okay I have a new home for the blog. One down. I still need to get the website moved. I am thinking of getting my own domain name and then I can go ahead and set the art up to sell.

For those who have followed me over here from AOL hope you like the new home. For those of you who are discovering this blog from the new site welcome.

Expect a lot of geek over here. After all I took the Geek Test and scored Super Geek with the comment "I would write this in Vulcan but you would correct my grammar." ;-)

The picture is called Jade's Dragon because everyone should have their own dragon.

I Need Your Help ASAP

"You should not lose hope. You should be optimistic, and have self-confidence. In our own example, in spite of overwhelming challenges, we never lost our confidence.' Dalai Lama

AOL is shutting down their Journals and Web Pages as of October 31st. No warning or loyalty at to their users.

I live in a small Midwest town and we are going to Comcast high speed internet. They say I can log onto any carrier with it. I need three things.

1. Where is the best place to move this blog to? I have everything backed up on my computer so I can move the entire thing. It is in Microsoft Word so that is a consideration in ease of uploading. I want a stable place that get reasonable readership.

2. Where is the best place to move my Web Site too? This is backed up on and done in Microsoft Front Page 2000. This is a really big graphics intensive site. Again I'm looking for ease of transferring it over, reasonable readership, and large enough to continue to upgrade and add new images as I do them.

3. Who is a good internet carrier that I can switch over to? I am not planning on styling forever in this little burg and will probably end up in North Carolina where my niece and her family resides. I want a carrier that is dependable and that I can get locally (Central Indiana) at the moment.

Any help you can provide so that I get everything moved over as soon as possible in order to but a placer here in time for people to know where I went to. Thanks to all of you.

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